Wednesday, May 20, 2009

With Don back to work, I have had to get my head around "being a housewife" again. There is lots to think about, keep track of and pay attention to. Not to mention that I have a website I am building, a wedding I am planning and our toy business to mind.

I have read about and even used in the past a Home Management Binder for keeping track of all this stuff, so I thought with me "going back to work" as a SAHM, it was time to get myself organized again.

I put together a new binder to keep me organized and top of things. And, I have to say that so far it is working! My house is cleaner than it has been in months, I have started to confront our finances in a new, powerful way, and lots of new ideas for my work stuff have started flowing.

The binder is just a 1 inch 3-ring binder. I put a little fabric in the front of it to pretty it up. Personally, when things are pretty and neat, I have a tendency to use them more.

I set up tabbed sections for all of the things I need to find easily.

Here is a peak inside:

1. The Daily Plan.. I made a sheet that holds 2 days worth of daily todo lists. They are specific to our life and the things I like to get done on a daily basis.

2. The Weekly List.. All the stuff that needs to be done every week like mopping the floors, paying bills, going shopping, etc. I refer to this list when making my Daily Plan.

3. Meal Plans.. I only plan one week out.

4. Grocery List.. I made a standard list that has most of the things we get each week and space to add other/misc items.

5. Budget.. A place for me to print our monthly budget and keep track of things like debt we are paying off.

6. House Projects.. We have lots of things we want to do with our house, this is where I jot down ideas, plans, etc.

7. Craft List.. A list of all the things I want to make.

8. Kid Crafts.. Ideas for art projects or other cool things to do with the kids.

9. Thrifting.. We go thrift store shopping almost every week. I always forget what I'm hunting for, so I started a list to write things down that we need so when we go I know what I am looking for.

10. Honey Do.. Things that I want Don to do around the house.

11. Holidays.. I have Birthday and Christmas plans for what we are going to make for everyone.

12. Tabs for work stuff.. I have one for wedding planning, one for Chubbas 'n Boop and one for my Cloth Diaper site. I just have paper here for me to jot down notes and ideas as I think of them. Sometimes I will have to-do lists here as well.

13. Notes.. Just some extra paper for me in case I need to write something down that does not fall into any of the other categories.

14. Inspiration.. quotes, pictures, etc.. things that inspire me and remind me of what I am committed to creating in my home.

I am such a list maker! I totally dig crossing stuff off, it makes me happy and helps me to stay sane.

I have seen lots of ideas for books like this out in blog land and the one thing I can say about them (in case you want to make one yourself) is to really think about what works for you and don't get stuck with it having it be a particular way. My way of doing it probably won't work for you, it takes a little time to figure out a system that you will actually USE. Tools like this to stay organized only work if you use them!